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Outstanding Graduating Seniors

Vanessa Brewer, BS Nursing

Vanessa Brewer's graduation is the culmination of what she calls a "15-year journey"
toward fulfilling a lifelong dream. Beginning first at Gavilan College, Brewer, of
Morgan Hill, has worked toward a career in nursing one or two classes at a time while
tending to three active children, working part time, fundraising for the Leukemia
Society and volunteering in support of her children's activities and at Stanford University's
Center for Advanced Pediatric Education. Aside from studying hard to achieve a 3.86
GPA and founding a nursing student organization, Brewer says her best San Jose State
memories will be of her peers and professors who mentored and encouraged her.

Bridget McKee, BA Anthropology

Bridget McKee embraces opportunities to excel. As a member of the 6th-ranked women's
water polo team, she earned one of the top five GPAs of San Jose State's 450 student-athletes
-- 3.87. When she wasn't competing in the pool, the Newbury Park native made time
to support the research of two anthropology professors by creating excavation layouts
and artifact illustrations. She also volunteered to help get donated food to low-income
senior citizens and as a reading partner to elementary school students. McKee says
the experience of being a student-athlete provided her with the "work ethic and team
mentality that are essential to any achievement."

Outstanding Thesis Award

Nancy Shostak, MS Geology

Nancy Shostak has always been fascinated with earth science, but she fell in love
with geology after taking a class through San Jose State's Open University. Once in
the master's program, she says the field trips, which included hiking east of the
Sierras to "look at rocks," only sweetened the deal. For her thesis, "Intensity of
the 1906 Earthquake In and Near San Jose, California," she studied the underlying
geology of the area in order to explain the varying patterns of shaking during the
earthquake. Shostak hopes to combine her Bryn Mawr College mathematics bachelor's
degree and her number-crunching experience as an actuary with her recently acquired
earthquake knowledge in a new career: estimating post-earthquake losses.